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DeGette: Trump Budget Request Irresponsible, Bad for Colorado and the Whole Country

Feb 12, 2018

Press Release

Washington, DC – Congresswoman Diana DeGette (D-CO), Chief Deputy Whip, called President Donald J. Trump’s new budget proposal irresponsible, bad for the country overall and harmful to Colorado in particular.

“President Trump’s Fiscal Year 2019 budget request will short-change important projects and programs affecting the environment, housing and health, among other matters that are critical to Colorado and the nation,” DeGette said. “It is also fiscally irresponsible, focusing on short-term goals based on faulty assumptions, and will have a devastating long-term impact.

“As cuts to these critical domestic priorities and more are being made, and as he drives the deficit higher, President Trump is requesting $1.6 billion for his unnecessary and ineffective border wall,” DeGette said. “This budget proposal speaks volumes about his values.”

DeGette noted that the Trump’s proposed 34 percent cut to the Environmental Protection Agency is even deeper than the one in his budget submission last year, which was never enacted.

The proposal reduces funding for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy budget by $1.3 billion, or about two-thirds. This cut could be damaging to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, which receives most of its funding from this office.

DeGette also raised concerns about funding levels for the National Institutes of Health, a major source of basic science and applied research funds for the University of Colorado Denver | Anschutz Medical Campus.

The new Trump budget would reduce the Department of Housing and Urban Development by $8.8 billion or 18 percent, including cuts to affordable housing programs that benefit Coloradans in need.